A Russian Is Being Considered for a Military Trial in the U.S.

Afghan National Army soldiers surround the gate as an Afghan prisoner gets released from the Parwan Detention Facility after the U.S. military gave control of its last detention facility to Afghan authorities in Bagram, outside Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, March 25, 2013.
(AP)

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A Russian national captured fighting with the Taliban is being considered for a military trial in the United States, The Washington Post reports, according to officials familiar with the situation. Not much is known about the man, whose pseudonym is Irek Hamidullan, except that he was a Soviet soldier in Afghanistan during the 1980, and that he fought against U.S. forces during their post-9/11 occupation. He is suspected of involvement in attacks that killed or injured American troops.

Bringing the detainee from Afghanistan to the U.S. would be the first time such a transfer has occurred since 9/11, and could encounter conflict from Congress, who has kept Guantanamo inmates in limbo by detaining them but barring them from being held in the United States.

Hamidullan is just one of a small number of third-party nationals that the administration is dealing with, who were not turned over to the Afghan government in March. The 53 detainees are considered to still be a threat, but neither the United States or Afghanistan is likely to accept responsibility for them. Only a handful of them are being considered for trial, and one official speaking to the Post hoped that repatriation for the others would be an amenable option.